A Methodological Puzzle: The Representativeness of After-death Inventories without Monetary Valuations. The Case of Vic (1400-1460)

Abstract

The present article aims to analyze the social representativeness of post mortem inventories as a valuable source for studying consumer behavior and standards of living in pre-industrial Europe. Specifically, this article examines the possibilities that Catalan after-death inventories have to offer considering their lack of monetary valuations. With the aim to understand the nature and limits of this source, this paper will use the town of Vic and its rich archives as its case study. For this purpose, this article starts by examining the institutional framework that regulated the elaboration of after-death inventories in late medieval Catalonia. This theoretical approach will be complemented with a cross-analysis of the after-death inventories of Vic, alongside the burial records and the tallas or direct taxation on wealth of this same town, in order to determine the ‘actual’ coverage of late medieval Catalan after-death inventories. Finally, the study will assess the possibilities that alternative wealth indicators may offer to socially classify after-death inventories without monetary valuations in order to establish a solid methodological foundation essential for conducting a rigorous historical analysis of pre-industrial consumption patterns in Catalonia and, by extension, all the Crown of Aragon.

Keywords

• consumption; after-death inventories; wealth taxes; crown of aragon; vic; late middle ages